Controversial call at plate helps Reds get by Phillies

Phillies' Aaron Harang says there is too much gray area on the play at the plate rule in baseball.

Phillies' Aaron Harang says there is too much gray area on the play at the plate rule in baseball.

Of The Morning Call

The Phillies couldn't continue their late-inning magic

PHILADELPHIA — The throw to the plate from shortstop Freddy Galvis arrived well ahead of the runner, Cincinnati pitcher Anthony DeSclafini — who wasn't exactly burning up the base paths, even with the bases loaded.

All Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz had to do was step on home plate for the force play and the second out of fifth inning and give Aaron Harang the opportunity to escape the jam in a tie game.

However, Ruiz dropped to his knees to block the plate and put the tag on a sliding DeSclafini.

"I think," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said, "he was just a little bit caught off-guard and surprised it came to him."

For a hundred-some years, DeSclafini was out. But that's no longer a given.

Reds manager Bryan Price asked for a review, and after an agonizing 4 1/2 minutes, the call was reversed, giving the Reds the go-ahead run and changing momentum in what became a sweep-avoiding 6-4 victory before a chilly Thursday crowd of 21,057.

That run gave the Reds a 3-2 lead, and they used two Harang walks to tack on three more runs in the sixth before the Phillies — who had stolen wins from Cincinnati the last two nights with late and extra-inning magic — scored twice in the eighth.

This time, however, the Reds' bullpen shut the door. But afterward, the play at home plate was the main topic of conversation — along with the Phillies' decision to option lefthander Jake Diekman to the IronPigs to "work on a few things."

"It's one of those rules … who knows what's going on with it," said Harang, who as clearly bothered by the length of the review. "Nobody does. … That's something that has to be figured out. We've seen it way too much, when it's a blatantly out play, it shouldn't be overturned like that. There's just a lot of gray."

While Harang spoke, outfielder Jeff Francour used a barnyard expletive from his locker to voice his opinion on baseball's rule that catchers must give runners a clear path to the plate.

"It's s stupid rule," he later said with a smile.

The Phillies took a 2-1 lead into the fifth, countering a Reds run in the top of the first with two in the bottom of the inning on Ben Revere's leadoff triple, a groundout, and doubles by Chase Utley and Maikel Franco.

After Harang, who had sailed through four innings on 41 pitches, issued a leadoff walk in the fifth, DeSclafani pushed a bunt past the mound toward second, and with Utley moving to cover first ended up with an infield single.

Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt, and Brandon Phillips knocked in the tying run with a double off the base of the left-field wall, with DeSclafini stopping at third after waiting to make sure the ball wasn't caught. Harang issued an intentional walk to load the bases and go after right-handed hitter Todd Frazier, who hit the slow, broken-bat roller toward Galvis that changed the game.

"The play at the plate was a big momentum play," said Sandberg, adding that it was the "right call."

"As the rule stands, that was pretty blatant — no lane for the runner," he said. "The rule has a purpose, and that's to keep catchers on rosters. All the players know about it, and I think it's effective in what it's trying to do."

Harang, who got a double play to get out of that inning but then issued two one-out walks that led to the three-run sixth, said the delay threw off his timing.

"Normally the replays have been good," he said. "They've been quick, most of the time under two minutes. This one seemed to take … definitely as a pitcher it throws your timing off, your momentum off, your feel of how the pace of the game is going. That's the frustrating part."

That was one of several plays, including DeSclafini's bunt and Francour's decision to try to tag up on a fly to left that resulted in a double play, that Sandberg said "led to big things" in a tight game.

"We had momentum, early runs, an early lead, and those mistakes erase that early momentum," he said.

Diekman struck out two and walked one in 1 1/3 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 6.75, but the lefty headed out the door and up the Turnpike after the game.

Sandberg said Diekman needs to work on controlling the running game, command of his pitches and pitching inside to left-handed hitters.

"There's some things he needs to fine tune and be more consistent with, and he's going to go there and work and be back as soon as possible and hopefully have some things ironed out," Sandberg said. "I think he's a big part of the bullpen when he's right so this is for his betterment and the team's betterment going forward."

"I just have to go down and work on stuff," a somewhat frustrated Diekman said afterward. "I know I'm a big leaguer so I think more or less I have to get out of my own way."